Federal agents arrested a man Monday they accuse of defrauding the Brownsville Housing Authority by concealing income.
Federal agents arrested a man Monday they accuse of defrauding the Brownsville Housing Authority by concealing income.
Gilberto Usdel Tello is charged with intentionally and knowingly defrauding the BHA by not disclosing all income in order to qualify and receive housing assistance, court documents show.
A criminal complaint filed by a special agent with the Department of Housing and Urban Development-Office of the Inspector General, or HUD-OIG, accuses Tello of concealing a second bank account from BHA employees.
A review of Tello’s BHA filed for 2016 to 2018 showed he only reported food stamps, social security and social security income to the BHA.
However, a review of banking records revealed numerous cash deposits into that second bank account that were not reported to the BHA, according to the criminal complaint.
On May 29, a BHA official determined it had overpaid $7,488 on Tello’s rent based on cash deposits concealed from the BHA, court documents show.
During a June 28 interview, Tello told the BHA that he and his wife were unemployed and only received food stamps, social security and social security income, and when asked several times whether he had any other income he had not reported, Tello said no, according to the criminal complaint.
Tello made a first appearance Monday and is being held without bond pending an Aug. 10 preliminary examination and detention hearing in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Ignacio Torteya III, court records indicate.
